Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Here in the city of Columbia, there is no shortage of action for the political junkie and/or activist. We have the 23rd, 24th, and the 25th Legislative district races, as well as candidates for state senate and US Congress. Throw in the coordinated campaign of Jay Nixon and you have a great opportunity to further progressive causes in Missouri. Sean Spence (DFMo. endorsed), Mary Still, and Bob Pund are vying for the 25th leg. seat. The winner will meet a Republican in the fall. Candi Iverson and Stephen Webber and running for the 23rd leg seat. Since there is no Republican running in that seat, the winner of the primary will be the presumptive winner. Chris Kelly and Kelly Schultz are running for the 24th and 21st respectively and will meet Ed Robb and Steve Hobbs in November. Many of these campaigns are embracing a grassroots style of action and are moving away from the top down style of running campaigns. Some of these candidates are on Facebook and they use it quite regularly to disperse information to their supporters. I predict big gains for Democrats this fall. The Republicans on all levels have left this nation broke and yearning for change. So get out there, canvass for your favorite candidate and let's win!

Friday, May 16, 2008

The Missouri Senate just adjourned and the Voter ID law never came to the floor. This round has been won and those who wrote their state senators, they heard you! It is imperative that we keep vigilant. Blunt may call a special session later this year and bring this issue back up. It is also important to remember that we must put Jay Nixon to the governor's office. Also if we can get a legislative house, that would be great as well :)

Saturday, May 03, 2008

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Indiana Voter ID law recently. It is considered one of the strictest voter suppression law in the country. In 2006, a similar law was passed in the State of Missouri, but the Missouri Supreme in decision of Weinschenk et al. v. State of Missouri stated that the law violated the equal protection clause of the Missouri Constitution.

Essentially requiring some people, mostly elderly and the poor, to pay for birth certificates in order to get those IDs would have put a burden to their right of free suffrage. Now over the last few days, I've seen some Missouri Republican politician laud the U.S. Supreme Court and has embolden some to bring up the possibility of resurrecting the 2006 law in the model of Indiana. It is probably a little late to bring it up during this legislative session and I don't know if this is an issue that would be required to hold a special session later on.

It is time for Democrats and progressives to be prepared for the Republican distortion machine. To start off, in 2004 Matt Blunt, then Sec. of State declared the election fraud free. It is ironic in just 2 years all of a sudden a voter ID law becomes a legislative priority.

Another Republican tactic is they will tell you that there is dead people voting here in Missouri or voting twice. According to the Dept. of Justice, there was no proof of "impostor" fraud in the state of Missouri, meaning someone voting under a name other then their own. The Republicans have brought up 2 incidents in Missouri to justify their voter suppression law. One is the ACORN voter registration fraud in St Louis. What had happened is that someone(s) falsified voter registration forms in order receive more money since they were paid for each registration. However, no one voted using those false registrations (impostor voting), which was again the justification for the 2006 law.

The other incident that Republicans are bringing up a KC Star report about a Blue Springs man that voted in both Missouri and in Kansas. My response is that like the ACORN controversy, the Voter ID law in 2006 was to prevent "impostor voting" and it would of not prevented someone from crossing state lines to vote again.

Be ready folks, the voter suppressors will make this Supreme Court decision their rallying cry